PHILLIES: Phils show fight in win over Reds

PHILADELPHIA — With Roy Halladay lost, the offense trying to get its creaky gears moving at a healthy pace and the bullpen weakened from an already weak state, the Phillies need to show a little vigor, a little fight, if they are going to be a playoff contender come September.

Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, they did that.

After seeing a tenuous lead eradicated by a swing of Joey Votto’s bat in the top of the eighth, the Phillies – fueled by Michael Young’s new-found knack for drawing walks – responded when Dom Brown’s bases-loaded bouncer up the middle of a drawn-in infield scored Young with the go-ahead run as the Phillies recovered for a 5-3 win.

Young, whose critics rolled eyes when the Phillies acquired him from Texas this winter, not only has been hitting like the guy with the .301 career average, but has been doing something that he once did rarely: draw walks.

He drew three free passes against the Reds, taking his team-leading total to 22 for the season. By comparison, he had just 33 walks in 651 plate appearances in the entire 2012 season.

Young helped the Phillies put some tough at-bats together against Cincinnati rookie southpaw Tony Cingrani, and the Phils finally got to a young pitcher with a live arm – and that hasn’t been easy for them. Jimmy Rollins’ two-run homer in the third inning ended a streak of 16 straight solo homers for the Phils.

The Phillies increased their lead to 3-0 in the fifth when Cliff Lee led off the inning with a drive to right-center. The pitcher thought he really crushed it – he started to take a home-run trot to first – only to see it clang off the fence. Lee rushed to second for a double, and with two outs he scored on Young’s triple to center field. It seemed Reds outfielder Shin-Soo Choo had a bead on it, then got shy near the fence.

Lee, who worked out of trouble in the first two innings as an odd struggle with control again bugged him, had settled down in the middle innings, but he gave up a two-run homer to Jay Bruce in the top of the sixth that cut the lead to one, 3-2. Lee remained in the game and pitched a quick seventh, but handed it over to Antonio Bastardo in the eighth.

Votto smoked Bastardo’s second pitch into the stands. It took the decision from Lee, as his eyes shot bullets to the mound from the dugout. Justin De Fratus bailed Bastardo out of a jam and kept it tied, offering the offense a chance to bail out the bullpen.